Blood and Water
by Braindead123
Summary: As Seth and Jenisa struggle to adjust to their blended families, they stumble upon the dragons, not extinct in the modern area, and share a mutual secret. When the stress of home life pushes them to the breaking point, running away unwittingly unleashes a dangerous force that was always just lying in wait. Cowrite with Evilkat23. Main dragons are a night fury and an original.
1. Chapter 1

As most high school seniors do, Seth Young had mentally checked out of school after just the first couple of weeks. In all fairness he had tried his best to not fall into the trap of 'senioritis,' but Seth just couldn't force himself to focus on school anymore. Heck, half the time he didn't even go; instead he'd coordinate his skipped days with one of his buddies and hang out with them for the day, usually at their place because Seth's father would never allow it. Luckily the boy had become reclusive enough not to interact much with his father much anymore, giving him total leeway for such truancy... almost.

"So _Halo_ tonight? Or _Gears_?"

"I'm thinking _Army of Two_ , actually. Both those huge-name games had too many 12-year-olds last time." That was Seth's conversation with his friend Logan, one of the boy's enablers. The pair had just walked in Seth's front door only to find the young man's father waiting for them in the game room with a glare. Another child might have been scared of such a look, but Seth was already prepared for it... and had a plan to defuse the situation.

"Before you two sit down, I'd like a word with my buddy!" Seth was no fool; he knew his father was just being endearing in front of Logan.

Seth balked inside but kept a friendly demeanor out. "Well, can it wait, Dad? I kinda have company over. Maybe later?" This game of dodgeball with his father was the game Seth played almost every day for the past month, making it even more frequently played than all his other games combined. Part of that was because Seth always won this game with the same tactic: the buddy system. By keeping a teammate at his side in enemy territory at all times, he could never be caught off guard and was less likely to be ambushed.

"Logan, please go home," the father insisted, now less happy-go-lucky, "We have a family matter to discuss." This was about Mr. Young's only counter for Seth's buddy system. It didn't always come up, but Seth had a play for the, too.

All it took was for the team to keep a very tight formation, refusing to stray off. This prevented any one teammate from being the victim of a surprise attack. "But, Dad, Logan has to drive 45 minutes to get here! Are you gonna make him drive that distance and back for nothing? It's not his fault we live so far from the rest of human civilization!" Seth decided not to add, _It's your fault,_ out loud.

Usually that play won Seth the round every time he tried it. His father was such a vain man that Seth was sure his father had to keep up appearances in front of someone who thought the man was a kind and perfect gentleman. Perhaps it that wasn't true anymore. "Logan, you're a nice boy. So, tell you what: you can stay. In fact, I'll even show you what the inner barrel of my .22 looks like."

 _Holy shit!_ Seth thought. For there it was: his father's true nature. Despicable and completely without regard to others, not to mention dishonest; he didn't even own a .22. _But did he really just threaten Logan?_

"Yeah... know what?" Logan started to back slowly towards the door. "This sounds like a personal thing I shouldn't be involved in. Mr. Young, bye for now!" Backwards Logan power walked out the door. Seth tried to follow and stop him, but the friend was jogging to his car by the time Seth reached the door. "Logan!" Too late. Logan's car backed out of the dirt driveway in a hurry, where a sea of trees blocked Seth's view of the car long before it would reach developed road. "Fuck! Fuck!" Unfortunately, Seth didn't have a protocol for how to deal with deserters. He ended up slamming the door.

"You shut that door quietly, Seth, before I come over there and show you how the door feels!" Seth knew that was an idle threat, but he supposed his only option now was containment and damage control. Without teammates to rely on, he would have to focus on just staying alive. So he obeyed and returned to stand before his father. "Seth, you're a smart boy, smarter than I even wish I was. So can you explain to an uneducated man like myself just why you're trying to piss away any chance you have of a future?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Seth was able to speak that lie with only numbness in his heart and a resting countenance. This, too, was a game the pair had played before, only it happened less often.

"Seth, school calls me every time you don't show up to class! I've gotten five calls this week!" Well, the jig was up. Still, Seth didn't break from his neutral, almost apparently catatonic state. The only thing that made him appear to have any life in him was that he made eye contact. "What's happened to you? You used to be a straight-A kid, and now you're not even showing up once over a week?" At least then Mr. Young's voice was shifting from accusation to concern.

"I don't know," Seth lied. For the sake of peace he felt he had to keep his mouth shut.

"That's not good enough. You need to know. Why weren't you at school today?"

"I don't know."

"Not good enough." That time Mr. Young had almost cut his boy off. "I wanna know why you weren't at school today."

"I don't know!"

"Not good enough."

" _Fuck you!_ Nothing's ever good enough! Your wife wasn't good enough, your daughter wasn't good enough, and now I'm not good enough!" Seth's teeth were bared and grinding.

"Don't change the subject!"

"That is the fucking subject! You wanna lecture me about-"

"Don't you talk to your-"

"-pissing away my life when-"

"-Anna is not the woman you think-"

"-you pissed away the greatest _fucking_ thing to ever _fucking_ happen to you?"

"-This is about you and you and school!" The conversation didn't even have the charade of productiveness or constructiveness anymore. The two men were talking at each other and over each other rather than two each other. Seth hoped it wouldn't come to this, but apparently it did.

"This is about you cheating on and dumping off my fucking _mother_! This is about you remarrying to the fuckin' _slut_ you were 'jogging and having coffee' with! This is about you dumping your _disabled daughter_ on your distraught ex-wife!"

"Dyslexia hardly counts as a disability."

"This is about tearing my life apart for your own selfish gain! _Fuck_ you, _fuck_ all you stand for, and _fuck_ the high horse you sit on while you preach about 'pissing my life away!'"

14-year-old Jenisa Burgolow put her hands over her mouth as she tried to stifle her anger. _Did that asshole just call my mother a slut?_ God, Seth pissed her off. If it wasn't for the fact that he was about a foot taller than her and way more muscular, she'd probably had slapped him by now. She was no fan of Dustin either. If what Seth had said was true, then odds were Dustin was going to cheat again. _Once a cheater, always a cheater_. That was something her father taught her.

Not wanting to get caught eavesdropping, Jenisa turned her heel and quietly snuck back off towards her room. Softly shutting the door so she wasn't caught, she quickly threw herself down on her bed. Sitting 'unlady like for someone wearing a skirt,' as her mother put it, she grabbed her laptop and stuck it right on her lap. Waiting for it to boot up, Jenisa stretched her hands above her head and waited impatiently.

If there was one thing she and Seth had in common, it was the fact that they both hated this. Neither of them could really do anything about it though. For Jenisa, it was was one day her mother was alone and the next day that her mother came bursting through the door announcing that she was getting married. Never once did her mother tell Jenisa about her boyfriend/husband-to-be, and it hurt. It hurt bad. Then Jenisa's life was just flipped on its head when Dustin and Seth moved in two years ago. She hated it. At least she had one thing that distracted her from the emotional pain: anime. Over the last two years she started watching anime like a maniac. First it was cutesy little anime like _Yu-gi-oh!, Sailor Moon, Pokémon, Tokyo Mew Mew_ , stuff like that. Now she had moved on to the more adult anime: _Elfen Lied, Corpse Party, Serial Experiments Lain,_ stuff that had a rather disturbing rap. Just something to numb her emotional pain was all she neeed.

Once upon a time there was a single mother of one for the longest time, and her name was Joan Burgolow. Joan loved her daughter more than anything but still felt lonely. Then one day, while taking her annual daily jog, a nice man jogged with her. After that they started talking more and more and, soon they were dating. Then one day, he popped the question, and she said yes, for once not thinking of her baby girl. Of course when she announced the wedding to Jenisa things didn't go over as smoothly as she'd have originally liked. Still, that was in the past, and now Joan was married with a wonderful husband, a rather moody step son, and a lovely, temperamental daughter.

Walking in through the front door, Grocery bags on her arms, Joan smiled, expecting to see her husband. What she didn't expect was a sudden, "- _fuck_ the high horse you sit on while you preach about 'pissing my life away!'" Pausing, Joan only stood there, unsure of what exactly to say. Unfortunately, Seth only found someone else to turn his wrath upon. "And _fuck_ you, too! It's been two _goddamn_ years! Will you ever get the hint you aren't my mother? Yeah, do yourself a favor and ask this fuck who and where my mother is! I bet he never told you, did he?" At that point Seth turned his rage back on his father. "Fuck knows why I ever kept your dirty little secret, but that shit's done! You two have a lovely little chat, now, almost like a _real_ husband and wife!" Then, still fuming, Seth stormed out of the room, out the backdoor, and off the property entirely. There was nothing back there but woods for miles, so it was an excellent spot to be alone... barring bears, moose, and such. _I can't live like this! Something's got to give!_ was a thought he ruminated on as he stomped aimlessly.

Jenisa came poking her head down stairs at the sound of a door slamming. Being a curious one for drama, she bounded down stairs. Before she could walk in the room, though. all she heard from her mother was, "Not now Jenisa! Go do something else." Then the kitchen door was slammed in the girl's face.

With a bitter pout, all Jenisa could say at that moment was, "Rude." Sticking her tongue out, she turned and and sighed. _Blood-C anime_ it was, apparently.

The way Seth was breathing almost made it sound like he was being chased by something, which isn't far from the truth because he felt like he was. Not a physical thing but his situation, his 'family.' _And fuck Logan, too._ It took ten minutes of aimless walking for Seth to become even remotely aware of his surroundings. He wasn't worried, though; besides having his mind on other things, two years was enough time to mostly learn his way around the woods. At least that was one good thing that came out of the move, but it hardly made up for anything.

Seth felt like he wanted to be isolated right about then, so he decided he'd head for the treehouse. Being up so high tended to make him feel safe and immune. According to his 'mother' and 'sister,' it wasn't actually theirs. They supposed it was built before they moved in. Seth's own opinion is that it was probably built before they were even born; there wasn't much left of it but 3/4 of the base platform and one wall. Unfortunately, just as he thought he was getting close he heard a growling, huffing sound. _Shit... if that's a bear, I wanna keep my distance._

For that, the boy supposed he had to give the treehouse a wide berth. Supposedly they weren't far north enough to see many of the giant whitecoats, but grizzlies were still in play. That was why Seth had to spend an hour on some random log instead, waiting for it to leave. The boy didn't think he'd be able to tell when it did from such a distance, but longer waiting was probably better. _Why am I in the middle of this? Why couldn't I have stayed with Mom? Why couldn't he have stayed with Mom? She gave him fucking_ everything _!_

An hour-and-a-half was almost the limit of Seth's patience. It wasn't, but that was when he had to flee; he ignored the groaning and growling at first because he was stuck in his own thoughts, but his senses soon came back to him... after a grizzly had already spotted him. "...fuck." The young man knew that all that play dead bullshit was, well, bullshit. A territorial bear might take that, but a hungry bear would eat what it could eat. The bear, though, a natural predator, started to charge before Seth could even sit up. "Shit!"

Well, at least Seth knew one place to escape: the treehouse. Fast as he could he got his feet under him and took off in a reckless sprint, not much minding footing or obstacles. That was about the only way to escape a charging bear, and if it was an endurance race the grizzly would win paws down. Seth's only hope was his own athleticism from years of school sports, whatever team he could get on. Perhaps it wasn't his passion, but it was a fun afterschool activity... and one that was paying off.

By the time Seth could grab the hanging rope of the old treehouse, the grizzly was almost enough to nip at his backside. The boy would have to make a great leap to get out of its reach quickly. _Basketball, longjump, now would be a very bad time to fail me_! With his eyes squeezed shut, Seth jumped as high as he could and hugged that rope into his body like it was his old teddy bear. Maybe I shouldn't think about bears! Cody almost lost one of his feet, but he had managed to bound just high enough not to by perhaps two inches. When he opened his eyes and discovered this, he whooped and fist-pumped. "Oh! Take that, bear bitch!" The grizzly, unamused by the taunting, began to rear up on its hind legs. "Oh, nope, gotta go!"

Knots tied along the length of the rope like bumps made it much easier for Seth to shimmy rapidly up it. A paw actually managed to swipe his feet that time, but they were merely knocked off the rope and not scratched thanks to his shoes. "Ah, shit, shit, come on!" Thankfully he got them back on the rope and pushed up with them fast enough to ascend a couple more levels of knots, now indisputably out of the ursine's reach.

The grizzly wasn't giving up, though. It sank down and seemed to think about the situation before, to Seth's horror, rearing back up and holding the rope between two paws. _No!_ The grizzly gave it a tug, and Seth felt himself sink. He sank because the treehouse, essentially a flat platform, shifted and tilted. "No, no, no, not OK!" Seth had to keep shimmying to maintain his distance, but that became futile when the bear tugged again. _If that thing doesn't give up he's gonna bring this whole thing down!_ Seth had made it almost to the top, about 20 feet off the ground, when another roar almost shattered his ear drums. Oh, how he wished he could have covered his ears, but his hands were occupied. "The hell?"

Seth's confusion was because of the roar's source: it wasn't below him, several feet away, but instead seemed to be... above him. _God, no_. The only good news seemed to be that the roar from above gave the predator below pause. It dropped back on all fours and became apparently wary. Seth wanted to be relieved, but a vibration along the rope... when the bear wasn't even touching it. That made Seth look up for once instead and- _Oh, god! What is that thing?_

Seth was making eye contact with... well, he didn't know. He couldn't see all of it, only a head and some claws poking over the side of the platform. It was no animal Seth had ever seen or heard about before, that was sure. The head reminded him of a lizard's, though. It was certainly scaly and reptilian in shape, and those scales all seemed to be the exact same shade of black as dark as an furious, stormy midnight sky. The only thing that made Seth think it might not be a lizard was its teeth: they were bared, pearly white, and shaped more like a shark's triangle than a terrestrial creature's dagger... and they were each longer than his middle fingers. The head containing all those teeth was about as long as Seth's abdomen, a giant. But the scariest feature? Definitely the eyes. Seth might have called them catlike the way they were slitted so narrowly that a needle might not have been able to precisely poke them... and that beast's muzzle was perhaps six inches from Seth's face.

"Umm... hi." It seemed the beast wasn't in a social mood. Even though it looked straight in Seth's eyes as it growled and eventually shifted to a grotesque half-roar-half-hiss sound (revealing its jaws to open even wider than Seth's head), the boy wasn't the only one who was frightened; the grizzly ran off almost as fast as it had run there in the first place, leaving Seth alone with the snarling... thing. _Well, maybe I better get-_ Before Seth could even finish his mental command to get the hell out of there, the treehouse shifted some more without any help from the bear. "Shit." The black reptile seemed caught off guard by that, too, as it jumped and backed off from the edge a bit. That movement just caused the platform to tip more. "No, no, no, no!" Despite Seth's pleading, one of the branches holding the treehouse aloft snapped, sealing both creature's fates.

All things on earth fall at an acceleration of 9.8 meters per second squared, meaning the boy, the treehouse, and the beast all fell at the same speed. That gave Seth, after falling, no time flat to escape from under the rest of the pile. The good news for him was that the treehouse' floor only fell in him from the ankles down, though that still made Seth hiss and shout out more profanities with tears welling up in his eyes. "Ffffffffuck!" Even worse the beast landed beside the boy right about then. Still, it took longer than the rest of the debris, but Seth solved that mystery quickly now that he could see everything about the creature... and it only horrified him more.

It had wings. Not bird wings, more like bat wings. That was even more confusing because it was apparently lizard-like in design more than anything, but two bat wings jutted out of its sides right between the shoulders and hips that slowed its descent like a parachute... and, god, were they huge. _That's gotta be... fifty feet, at least!_ They were almost disproportional to the lizard they were attached too, but not quite; the lizard's body must have been thirty feet, though about half of that was just a long, thin tail that appeared to have its own black 'wings' at its tip, though they more closely resemble fish fins or sails. Those sails were angled upward in a sort of V-shape which was reminiscent of the shape of the spines that ran down the middle of the black lizard's back all he way from the shoulders to the tail tip. "...no _fucking_ way!" Perhaps Seth had never seen such a creature before in real life, but he had seen them plenty of times in his movies and games. He certainly knew a, "...dragon?" when he saw one.

The dragon, fortunately or not fortunately, was not being crushed by a tree house. So instead it circled the helpless boy once around and halfway again to stand behind Seth's head and with its own snarling muzzle over Seth. The boy was hyperventilating with lips pursed and eyes wide open out of terror, but he noticed the dragon, if that was what it really was, was rapidly exhaling its nasty breath in Seth's face, each burst of air feeling like a gust of wind. _It's breathing hard... it's scared, too?_ That, or it's pissed! Well, maybe it wouldn't have worked on the bear, but with Seth's feet trapped he had only one option against the dragon.

The boy played dead... or, as dead as one can play when one's lungs demand a refill to capacity every half-second on the half-second. Seth lolled his head to the side and tried his hardest to force his muscles to relax. Fighting was just out of the question, and striking first seemed like a bad idea when the creature wasn't even trying to kill him yet. His best option was literally to lie down and do nothing, though Seth wasn't sure just how much better than the other options it really was.

It seemed a good sign that the dragon's lips slowly but surely shut, though it didn't stop making a constant rumbling noise that sounded like growling. The dragon jumped to its side, circling Seth again a bit but just, apparently, so it could make eye contact again. Seth wasn't sure if he should stare back or not, but he knew that among many animals prolonged eye contact was a taunt or a challenge. So he took the chance and rolled his head to the other side, which the black dragon didn't follow this time. Still, Seth was internally terrified because he couldn't watch the creature anymore.

The boy couldn't determine for sure what exactly happened after that, but he thought he could feel the tense atmosphere gradually diffusing... though the dragon didn't move from its spot for a good while. Wondering what was going on, Seth turned his head back to the dragon and almost instantly regretted it. The beast roared good and loud in his face, making his ears ring and hands jump to cover them. However, that turned out not to be a threat but a warning; the giant creature then leapt over Seth and ran off swiftly with all the grace of a wildcat out of sight.

"Oh, god... that bear bit me, didn't it?" Seth yanked both feet free of the crushing weight. "I'm losing blood and delirious. That's why I'm seeing dragons!" The next thing Seth caught by any of his senses was the cringe-inducing grind of metal on metal followed by that roar-hiss the boy had gotten before. It was higher pitched, though. Surprise? Pain? _Unbelievable._ Seth painfully rose to his feet, but that definitely didn't feel good; his ankles didn't like bearing weight. Still, his best guess was that there was no fracture. _Walk it off, bitch!_

Seth's curiosity overcame his caution, so he followed the sounds of then pained growls to find exactly what he expected to see: a dragon with one leg caught in a bear trap. "Hey, hold still!" Seth didn't really expect the dragon to follow orders, but he was surprised to see a defensive reaction again. "Oh, come on! Aren't we over that?" Seth supposed he couldn't back away now. The sight of suffering upset his stomach, and he knew the thought would remain if he fled. The dragon, though, seemed to want Seth to run if its next response was any indicator.

As soon as the boy took a step, the dragon opened its maw and launched a glowing white ball that travelled at the speed of a bullet. It almost reminded the boy more of a lightning strike than a fireball. The only reason Seth didn't get roasted was because he dropped to his knees and hands from the pain of standing in his injured ankles. As the air shimmered in the the ball's trail, Seth looked over his shoulder to find a fallen tree that wasn't fallen before. "How about some fucking gratitude? I'm trying to save you even though you almost fucking killed me three times now!" Seth tried to get his feet back under him again, but the dragon hissed to indicate it didn't want him to do that. Curiously, it went silent when Seth went back down. _Maybe if I stay down he'll feel less threatened. Or she. Nah, probably he. Only a male can be such an asshole._

Unfortunately, the trap was on a foreleg. Had it been on a rear leg, Seth could disengage the trap without being in range of tooth or claw. A foreleg, though, meant Seth had to be exposed to free the dragon. _I can't believe I'm risking my life for this_. But despite Seth's own objections, he crawled forward to the black dragon, who stared Seth down the whole time. However, Seth observed, _He's not spitting fire at me anymore. And he's not growling._ Still, its eyes were narrowed and body tense, almost seeming to forget it was caught in a trap and worried solely about the approaching boy on all fours, so Seth was still cautious.

To his shock, the young man was allowed to kneel right before the bear trap without incident. That gave him some confidence in his safety, but the dragon was still obviously scared. How could Seth calm it? Maybe... It was risky, but Seth felt confident enough to reach up with his hand toward the dragon's snout slowly, hoping to stroke it. _Easy, boy..._ The dragon growled then, but the boy kept it up... until the creature snapped at his hand. Seth pulled it back hastily and, fortunately, got to keep it. _Too much too soon._ So instead he placed both hands on the bear trap. Its spiked clamp was piercing the black scales and making the dragon ooze crimson. _No way I can pull that thing apart if he can't. There's gotta be another way to release this fucker_. An immediate look did not reveal that mechanism, though. _It's official: I am not smarter than the average bear._ The dragon huffed, and Seth took it as annoyance or frustration. "I'm workin' on it!"

Seth had to feel up the trap and inspect it very closely to to get an idea of the mechanics, and it took him a couple of minutes... during which, Seth noted, he wasn't getting mauled or fried. "Alright... friendly warning? This is gonna free you, but it's also gonna hurt. Do me a favor and don't slash my jugular." To Seth's surprise, the dragon huffed in response almost like it understood, but Seth didn't expect that it actually did. _Still, maybe it knows I'm trying to be nice now._ First, Seth straddled a pair of v-shaped bars with springs on either side of the trap. Stepping in each V-bar compressed the spring. That allowed Seth to slide a little key-shaped object hanging off each bar into a slot that seemed made for it. Seth hoped that would release the trap, but it still held _. But maybe..._ keeping his weight on the bars, Seth quite carefully tried to pry the clamp apart. To his surprise, he was able to rather easily. But as the teeth of the trap came out and pressure was relieved, the massive dragon fell on the opposite shoulder barked. "Hey, hey, I warned you! That's normal when pressure is released, but it'll go away." What a turnaround. Earlier this creature seemed prepared to guiltlessly strike the boy down, and now it lay helpless and pathetic at his feet... relatively pathetic, that is. Even flat on the ground, the creature's shoulder was as tall Seth's if chest it Seth had been standing.

"Jesus..." inspecting the injury but without roughing the dragon, Seth thought it wouldn't kill the dragon, but the dragon would sure wish it did. A drop of blood fell on his hand then from above even though his hand was near the injury. "Hmm?" Looking up, it seemed that wasn't the dragon's only injury. It bore a gash on its shoulder, several puncture holes in its wings, and what looked like teeth marks in its neck. _God, no wonder this guy's so scared. I'd be, too... only I wouldn't be so well-behaved._ The holes in the wings seemed to concern Seth the most. _God, I hope those can heal. I don't know anything about dragon anatomy, but-_ Seth interrupted himself to darkly chuckle. _Dragon anatomy. I'm dealing with a fucking dragon._

There were some good signs to the injuries, though. Most of them seemed to have scabbed over already with the exception of the trap wounds; they had to be old injuries, perhaps already healing. Those were definitely inflicted by another animal... Seth inspected the bite marks more closely to find the bite radius was huge! _Maybe even another dragon?_

Speculation would have to wait. The dragon still wasn't standing up, and this time Seth just didn't know how to help. _Best I can guess is more bloodflow to the area would help. But that means I have to..._ Seth and the dragon looked to each other's faces at almost the same time. Gulp. When Seth lifted a hand, the black dragon's pupils contracted and head reared back a bit. "Easy, easy, buddy. I'm much more scared of you than you are of me, but this should help the pain in your leg." Slowly, extremely slowly, Seth moved that hand toward the wound and paused before gently laying his palm on the silky smooth scales just above it. _Huh. It's warmer than I expected._

The black dragon's leg tensed immediately under Seth's hand, but this time the creature didn't snap at Seth. It still seemed to be breathing hard, but not so much as before, and it made a sort of warbling noise Seth didn't quite get the meaning of. _But it's not a roar or growl. I know that much_. Gently, at first, Seth gently rubbed the site above the wound. Speaking softly seemed to have helped keep the dragon calm so far, so he kept it up. "This is gonna feel better in a couple minutes. In the meantime, you just have to relax for me, OK? You look calmer, but I know you're still a little nervous. And you being nervous is making me a little nervous, which makes you more nervous- well, you get it." Seth didn't really think the dragon 'got it,' but it responded as if it did; for the first time it finally looked away from the boy and actually lay its head down. _God, I'm good at this. I should be a vet._

Seth thought he could get away with using a second hand below the wound, and it turned out he was right. The only reaction he got this time was a side look; the beast didn't even lift its head. "Staying off the ground was probably a smart move. There are a whole lot of bear traps out here, not to mention the bears themselves... though, that didn't seem to be an issue for you before, did it?" It was hard to believe for Seth that the dragon's scales were so smooth, almost like they were ice with little bumps in between. "See? You're not such a mean, nasty-" More of the dragons warbling interrupted Seth, and he took the rubbed leg's shaking as message to leave it alone. That seemed to be the right interpretation, because when Seth took his hands away the monster shakily, hesitantly got all its feet underneath itself. "Feeling better then?"

Seth was on his knees, so he couldn't compare himself to the dragon standing, but even if Seth was on his feet he was sure he'd be about eye-level with the shoulder if not lower. As the dragon looked at him, the boy noticed its eyes weren't slits anymore but wide circles. _I guess that means he's calmed down. But now what?_ The boy supposed he should stand back up himself, but when he tried he had completely forgotten his own injuries by then; his ankles rebelled against bearing weight and sent him toppling forward... onto the dragon's head. _No, no, no, no!_ Seth tried to throw his hands out to stop his fall, but the only thing he could put them on was the giant lizard's head, which he wanted to avoid because he didn't want to risk angering it again.

Seth feared retribution for that move, but the dragon didn't act. Actually, Seth could feel that the beast was pushing back against Seth's hands, _like it's trying to help me stay up... I guess he understands I'm the good guy._ The young man didn't have much of a chance to bask in the honor of that because he just wanted to try standing on his own. So gradually he took weight off of his hands and put it on his feet, which made him hiss though he knew it was necessary. He succeeded in standing independently for a few moments but felt himself about to stumble again. To make matters worse, the dragon lunged without warning and engulfed Seth's arm in its maw. "Agh!" he yelled quickly from the pain... only to find that the pain he had expected didn't register.

The dragon pulled with its body for strength and mouth as a grip to support Seth until the boy finally could stand on his own to the beast's satisfaction. At that point the black dragon took its mouth back, which was when Seth noticed, _It has no teeth! I swear I saw teeth in there! Where did they go?_ But immediately after asking himself that, he got his answer: they had been retracted, and once Seth was free those teeth jutted back up and down from holes in the dragon's gums. _Now that's pretty cool!_ Now that he was up, the boy realized he had been wrong about the dragon's height: the tip of its shoulder wasn't at Seth's eye level. It was an inch above Seth's own complete height.

The boy wasn't sure what to make of the dragon's warbling noises now or its catlike stare. Was it gratitude? Could the creature even feel that? _I guess it's not out of the question; this dragon is basically a walking wildcard_. Seth supposed he may as well be polite. "Thanks for that. I guess that makes us even... not counting you scaring the almost literal shit out of me." When the dragon's muzzle encroached on Seth's personal space, he wasn't nervous this time. He didn't necessarily expect to be nuzzled on the cheek Iike he was, but he was pretty sure he wasn't under threat. _That wasn't random_ , Seth observed, _That was a response, a response to my words. He understands me! He understands my meaning, at least, if not every word itself. That's unbelievable._

It was Seth's turn to tense out of fright when he felt something squishy and very, very slimy on his cheek. _No way_. By the time Seth could snap his hand to his cheek, the object had already brushed up length of Seth's cheek, temple, and into his hairline. _A reptile with a tongue like a dog_. Seth had to wipe his face multiple times with his sleeve to get the slimy saliva off of his face. "Ah, man, something tells me that's not gonna wash out."

* * *

Jenisa let out a low raspberry as she silently sipped her Pepsi while reading the manga _Death Note_ in her hand at the kitchen table. Her mom and Dustin went out to have a long walk together, leaving her alone. Silently kicking her legs under the table, she knew she was getting the bottoms of her white stockings dirty, but she didn't care right then. _Death Note_ had just got really interesting, too interesting. Resting her head on the palm of her hand she hummed once more. _Seth has been gone for quite a while. Maybe he finally ran away._ That'd be one less problem for her.

Growing bored, Jenisa set her book open face-down and walked into the kitchen to grab some cookies. Her mother had been getting on her about her weight recently, but like before, Jenisa didn't really care. Grabbing the Oreos on the countertop, she walked back to her seat and started to eat while reading her manga. That was when the back door opened.

It turned out to be Jenisa's step brother back from wherever, only there was something... different about him. Maybe it was his attitude. For once, despite being alone, he wasn't walking around with a scowl or a frown. In fact, it was the strangest thing: there was some goofy grin on his face that he was maybe trying to suppress but losing that battle entirely. Even odder, Seth actually acknowledged Jenisa as he walked by. "Oh! Hey." Now, Seth didn't resent Jenisa like the others. He knew she was, like him, stuck in this unfortunate situation without say. He also knew that she had her own problems with that completely independent of his, though Seth couldn't be bothered with them on most days. Despite their common feelings, though, the pair wasn't very close. On a good day there might have been some extended small talk at the breakfast table, but it was more likely that Seth would just keep to his own.

Jenisa raised an eyebrow at him but then shrugged as she bit into another cookie. "Hey," she greeted half-heartedly as she continued to focus on L in the manga. However, her curiosity did get the best of her as she looked up at him from the top of the manga. "So, how was the woods today?" she inquired as she noticed the odd stains on the sleeves of his shirt along with some odd reddish brown substance on him as well. Did he get into a fight or something?

The fact that Jenisa's stepbrother narrowed his eyes and didn't answer right away seemed to be an indicator of defensiveness. Still, he told with as even a voice as he could, "It's the woods, Jenisa. Not much happens." He then redirected the subject to avoid the real one. _Even if I tell Jenisa, it's not like she'll buy it. Or worse... she will buy it and wants to keep it._ "You really still read that Chinese stuff? I thought that was for, like, ten-year-olds."

"Japanese, you brain dead senior. Also, tell me why a ten-year-old would have the balls to read about a man going evil with power and killing everyone who tries to get in their way?" Jenisa asked him. That was her button: hearing that anime 'was just for kids'. That was like saying all cartoons were 'just for kids' as well. _Yes there are some for kids, but also some for adults, clearly... and just for adults._

"Whatever you say," Seth blew off. He wasn't really hanging around the kitchen for his own interest anyway. There was something else he was after: a good snack. But every cabinet seemed to lack the one he was after. "Hey, you seen my Oreos?" Seth got that question answered as soon as he turned his shoulder; there they were in Jenisa's lap. "Oh, you bitch!" he cried in annoyance, "Am I really gonna have to start hiding my treats from you again?"

"It's not like you marked them or anything!" Jenisa fought back. She scrunched her face up. "How dare you call me a bitch?" She stuck her tongue out at him finally in a childish fashion.

"Would marking them have stopped you?" The older brother taunted, "Never did before." On that note Seth snatched the box right from Jenisa's lap and started to pig out himself. "So when's dinner? I'm hungry as fuck."

"I don't know! Mom and Dustin left before dinner because of your screaming, so now we have to fend for ourselves." She bitterly _humphed_ out as she stood and stretched. "Why were you out in the woods so long? Smoking weed or something? You sound like it." Snorting, Jenisa carefully marked the page she was at as she stared at him.

Seth completely ignored that question, hoping Jenisa wouldn't see that was deliberate. "Goddamnit!" He peered at the box in his hand. "I guess it's diabetes for dinner, then." With one hand he snatched about a third of all the cookies in the previously full box, sealed it, and tossed it underhand back at Jenisa, a strange gesture considering he was just upset about her eating them in the first place. _I wonder what he's eating, if anything. What do giant, fireball shooting, flying lizards even eat? Maybe if he's still there I should try and sneak him something later._

Jenisa looked at the box and sighed. Yes, she had been just eating the cookies, but her mother taught her well in knowing that cookies for supper wouldn't fly. "I could make mac and cheese. That's about it," she told him before he left the room. Then she shrugged, "Or you could stick with diabetes. Your choice." Without waiting for his response, she got to work on her own dinner. Pulling a box out of the cabinet she opened the fridge to grab the milk and butter only to pause and sniff. She then let out a loud "Yuk!" and gagged as she grabbed the twin package of Bass fish from the fridge and threw it on the counter in disgust. "Only god knows how long that's been there."

"Diabetes is looking better and better." Since Jenisa rejected the cookies, Seth returned to pigging out from them. "Tastes pretty good, too." On that note, the boy crunched on cookies during his trip back to his bedroom, leaving his step sister alone in the kitchen with her disgusting fish. _I definitely have to go back there soon, see if the dragon's still there... and take my damn phone with me a for picture, just for me if nothing else. If he's not there... I guess I can chalk it all up to a stress induced hallucination._ Seth glanced at his sleeve, though, still sopping wet, and his hands that were still covered in red dots and sreaks despite his best saliva hand washing. _But that doesn't look like a hallucination to me._ Soon as Seth had returned to his bedroom he sent a group text to a few friends: " So, who's up for Army of Two?" Logan, of course, wouldn't be invited.


	2. Chapter 2

"Yo hang out at my place?" That was a text from one of Seth's friends. The ringtone had made him jump, startled, because he had seen nothing but quiet for over an hour now.

 _Jesus! Better not be so jumpy out here. A certain someone might not appreciate that._ Seth didn't have any intention of making social plans today, so he responded, " Not today man, maybe tomorrow." Seth thought about adding an excuse about having other plans already, but he didn't need whoever that was (the boy didn't much care at this time) to ask what they were. Explaining them would have been difficult to say the least. _Who the hell is texting me at four in the morning anyway?_ That was when Seth was finally curious enough to check the contact. _Logan. Figures he'd be up at this hour. I should'a ripped him a new one, but I guess it's too late now._

As Seth sat on a log and waited, he was about halfway through his second chocolate bar that morning when a pack of raccoons had gathered at the boy's feet... and he wasn't keen on sharing his candy. "'Ey," he acknowledged them before casually commanding them to, "Fuck off." That didn't cut it, though. One of the raccoons was even brave enough to hop up on the log with Seth and threaten to creep even closer for the candy. _Someone out here must be feeding these fuckers if they're brave enough to get that close._ The boy tried to scowl at the critter, but it wouldn't leave still. _Well, I tried to be nice. You brought this on yourself._

Seth wrapped the half-eaten candy bar in its wrapper as best he could and stuck it into his _Call of Duty_ themed pajama bottoms (he figured what the point was in getting dressed in real clothes when there were no people to see him in the woods anyway). That allowed him to stand up, the raccoons still not backing away. "I said, 'Fuck off.'" Deftly, and remorselessly, Seth lifted a leg and kicked the raccoon who had disrespected his personal space, sending it flying several feet. _Huh. Lighter than I thought._ Luckily the rest of the raccoons were smart enough to run off rather than defend their fallen comrade. After that Seth glanced behind himself to the rodent he had kicked. Apparently it was still there, lying still and prone. _Did I knock it out? Or kill it? Didn't mean to hit it that hard._

Seth sat down again, bit his chocolate bar after taking it out, and glanced at the structure before him. It had been the treehouse the black dragon had almost killed Seth in, though it was no longer. Several of its wooden planks were scattered around it and its tree, but most of it (at least what remained before he fall) was whole. _I don't know why I thought he'd come back here. It probably isn't exactly his most pleasant memory. Hell, for all I know he's not even in Ontario anymore if he can still fly._ The boy heard rustling behind him then and... _Crunching?_ The boy rapidly looked back over his shoulder then and inhaled quickly. There was the beast, chowing down on the immobilized raccoon! _Well it's definitely dead now._ The boy had to turn away for a moment in order not to lose his appetite, but he looked back just in time to watch the dragon lift the rest of the carcass by the tail and toss it into his own mouth. _Brutal. How the hell did he even sneak up on me? I'd have had to hear him stomping around or flapping his huge-ass wings!_

Seth was proven wrong when, in one long but effortless bound, the black dragon cleared twenty feet to wind up not behind the boy or even beside him but in front of him! The motion made Seth jerk to the side, dodging, but it turned out to be unnecessary; the dragon's wings, though almost right next to his skin, didn't even scrape him on their way past. Even more remarkably, the black dragon didn't make much of a noise when it landed. _Or maybe I wouldn't have heard him. What is he made of? Air?_ Turned out the dragon wasn't perfect, though. Seth still watched it cringe, hiss, and lift its foreleg, the one that had been caught in a trap. Apparently that leg didn't like the landing. "So that thing's still bad, huh?" Glancing at it, Seth figured, _I shouldn't be surprised. It's only been... What, twelve hours? Lucky he remembers me, I guess. I wouldn't wanna be on the wrong end of that fireball._

"Hey!" Seth whistled to the creature to get its attention, and that succeeded. At that point Seth dropped his backpack and withdrew his secret package: a fresh, unopened box of Oreos. _Even a whole box of these is probably just an appetizer for something his size. "_ You know what goes good with... uh, dead raccoon, I guess? Enough sugar and transfats to give a mouse a heart attack!" Seth supposed he should probably throw the cookies on the ground; feeding a wild animal out of his hand, especially a meat eater, might not end so well. The creature didn't much like that, though; he retreated back from the pile of cookies tossed toward him a foot in a way that reminded Seth of a cat. But then Seth saw the dragon sniff the air. _Damn right, they smell good. Too bad I didn't bring milk... or, maybe, I would have needed a cow._

"Go ahead, bud. It's food. More importantly, it's good!" Seth was amused to watch the dragon suspiciously crouch-crawl near the cookie, sniff them relentlessly, and snap one up like he expected it to fight back. _Maybe throwing food around in bear woods is a bad idea. But, hey, he chased off the last bear, at least._ The dragon warbled excitedly at the flavor and much more calmly snatched up the other cookies. _He's kinda cute when he's friendly._ Seth got a daring idea, then. _Maybe I should see just how far I can go._ Seth whistled again, and that made the nightfury make instant eye contact with Seth. _Ha. It's like I'm training him!_

"Want some more?" Seth had a few cookies in his hand now, and the boy wasn't surprised to watch the dragon fearlessly and casually approach to take them. _Do I have a dragon_ literally _eating out of the palm of my hand?_ The answer turned out to be, 'not quite.' The dragon went ahead and engulfed Seth's hand and fingers and pulled the cookies off his hand that way. _Don't use the teeth! No teeth!_ he panicked, _Teeth? No teeth? No teeth. Phew, close one. Maybe I pushed my luck too far._ For the second time, Seth's hand was drenched in dragon slobber that he tried to wipe off on a leaf. It didn't work. _Then again, it's hard to call something a bad decision if it works._ "Hey, I brought you something else, too." At that announcement the beast craned its neck and looked down on Seth from above with a very certain look on its eye. _That is definitely curiosity. He knows what I said._

Seth also took a towel of the bag he snuck, one from his shower. "Best not let much dirt and gross stuff get in some of those cuts, else it could mean infection. Tying this over them could help avoid that. Will you let me?" This time, Seth actually expected to be understood, but it still filled him with wonder that the dragon warily held out his bad foreleg and lay it over the log the boy was sitting on. _Too bad I couldn't use a bandage of some sort. I'm gonna have to dry off after a shower with a hand towel. Good cause, I guess._ When the towel was secure, Seth commanded, "Don't take that off until you're healed if you can avoid it. Understand me?" Actually, Seth wanted to ask that as a separate question. "Do you understand me? When I speak to you? Uh... blink once if you do." He did.

 _I guess I expected that, but that's so crazy! For all I know this guy is even smarter than me! Actually, that might not be hard to believe... What if he understands me by mind reading? He's still a walking wild card, after all. Uh... hey! If you're reading my mind, extend one wing!_ That didn't happen. _I guess I didn't expect that to work anyway._ So Seth got back on track. "Show me that shoulder, too." The boy empathetically patches that up, too. "I don't think I can do anything about the wings. Wait a second!" Seth knew he might be overstepping a boundary by unfolding one of the dragon's wings without warning or permission. Seth heard the dragon huff, annoyed, and saw it watch him closely, but it didn't stop Seth.

 _Hey, look at that. Apparently wing punctures do heal... Pretty damn fast, too._ The puncture wounds weren't gone, but Seth knew some had shrunk in just the hours since he last saw them. _I guess that makes some sense. It's evolution: dragons who heal quickly are more likely to survive than dragons that don't, and the survivors are more likely to pass on their genes. And maybe the type of cell in the wings also matters, but I wouldn't know._ "Wow, that looks way better! This big hole must have shrunk an inch already!" _Who says I need school? I'm already the greatest dragon biologist/veterinarian on the planet... as far as I know._

The dragon took his wing back in that moment and turned to face Seth directly. His snout snaked down Seth's legs until it reached his ankles and feet, where he pushed on them and warbled impatiently. At first Seth was just confused by this, but then he remembered that the dragon had seen him injured, too. "Oh, my ankles? I'm fine!" The boy took his shoes and socks off then to show them. "Couple bruises and scratches. Luckily I didn't need a ride to the hospital. Oh! Almost forgot!" Before the dragon could even figure out what happened, Seth quickly drew his phone from his pocket and snapped a hasty photo of the dragon. "Fuck, that is so cool."

* * *

Jenisa slowly walked out of the library, her Mary Janes softly scuffing against the sidewalk as she dragged her feet. She had gone there to study for a test, but it didn't exactly go as planned. She just stayed in the manga section for those two hours. Now looking up ahead a bit, she saw two girls from her history class. She tried to talk to them many times before, but it just ended in her being ignored, so Jenisa just decided to try and stop being friends with anyone. If it happened, she thought, it'd be natural; she wasn't going to try and force herself to be friends with anyone anymore. Looking down at her scuffed shoes, Jenisa let out a soft sigh as her mind went to her father.

Her father, Jonathan Burgulow, died when she was four. According to Jenisa's mother, he was a soldier that died in the war. She missed her father greatly. One of her earliest memories was that when she was just three she was sitting on her father's lap while he watched hockey. It was insane; one day he was there, and the next he was gone. Still, Jenisa thought he was in a better place now. So, keeping forward for a bit longer, she suddenly swerved off the road towards the woods. She always went this way when she was coming home from the library. It was a lot easier and more shaded than walking down the sidewalk.

Once in the woods her feet started to loudly crunch the dead dried up leaves and twigs on the ground, she loved the sound , she was the type of girl to jump into a pile of leaves just to hear the crunching of the leaves. Going her normal route, Jenisa would normally listen to the many chirping birds in the trees, but today there didn't seem to be a bird in these woods. All was still and silent. It unnerved her a bit. Taking in a deep breath she continued to soldier on through the woods. She just wanted to get home and watch the rest of Blood-C on her laptop.

Hearing a sudden noise off in the distance made Jenisa pause her walking in mid-step as she listened deeply. The noise sounded almost demonic, just a low guttural bass much deeper than anything she's ever heard before. _Bears?!_ Was her first thought as her mind started to race rapidly with fear. Breathing in a very shaky breath she was almost too scared to move as fear paralyzed her. Finally, she shook her head forcing herself to focus. _It was probably just an old truck with a rusty engine or something. There's no way a bear made that noise,_ Jenisa reassured herself as she sucked in a deep breath. Slowly she trudged forward in a semi-jog as she just wanted to get home at this point.

Jenisa suddenly had to slow down at the sight up ahead. It looked like something had completely demolished the trees. They weren't uprooted, and some trees were and even fully on their sides, but most of the tall pine trees where all completely broken. The fresh light brown wood oozed sap slowly out of it's wounds. Off in the distance Jenisa could see that one pine tree looked to be completely burnt black- well, what was left of the tree, that was. Slowly and carefully she started towards that tree in particular. Being careful of the fallen limbs of the over trees, she made her way to the blackened tree and put her hand on it, which turned out to be a big mistake.

" _Ah_!" Crying out in pain, Jenisa moved her hand back and even backed away from the tree, frightened. The tree was still blistering hot despite being burnt already. Looking at her palm she could see it turning red from the heat, though she had hope it wouldn't be too bad. Shaking the pain away from her hand, Jenisa paused when she heard it again: the low guttural demonic sound once again sounding throughout the woods, only it was closer than last time. Turning her head towards where the sound most definitely came from, Jenisa swallowed hard before deciding it was time to investigate. Stepping over fallen tree limbs and being mindful of any spiderwebs, she was careful as she walked away from her normal route home. Narrowing her eyes she listened and became aware of another sound following the guttural sounds. It sounded like… _flapping wings?_ Stepping on a branch it snapped loudly, so loudly that the flapping wings suddenly hushed leaving the forest feeling desolate and quiet. Putting her hands up, scared, Jenisa slowly and cautiously stepped forward, listening as much as she could.

"H-Hello?" Her own voice sounded foreign to her as it echoed dully around the woods. She honestly knew she wasn't going to get an answer as she slowly stepped forward. Feeling her skirt get caught by a fallen tree branch, she paused to get her skirt uncaught. That was when an impossible gust of wind caused her to lose her balance and fall back, ripping her skirt down the leg. Now fallen on her butt, she only blinked dumbly. _That wasn't normal wind_. She knew that by the fact that the treetops didn't sway, and it felt more like the wind had purposely pushed her down, which meant that wind was insanely powerful. Getting back up, a part of her just wanted to turn and run. However, something in her kept pushing her to walk forward into the woods. Moving a branch out of the way of her path, she paused when she started to make out something on the side of a rather large pine tree. It looked so out of place because it was bright white. For a second she wondered if it was the inside of a tree. _Seeing how the rest of trees around are destroyed, aren't some trees white on the inside?_ But she knew that with it being a pine tree, it shouldn't be white on the inside.

Suddenly the white mass moved causing, Jenisa to gasp and fall back in fright. _That wasn't normal! That was far from normal_. The guttural sound rung around her now closer than ever and louder because of it. Putting her hands over her ears, Jensia forced herself to stand. She _needed_ to see what this thing was at this point. Having had enough of being scared, Jenisa charged forward just so she could finally see just what this thing was. She stopped once she was close enough, eyes wide and mouth agape as she stared blankly at just what was in front of her.

At first she wondered if she was hallucinating; maybe she had been watching too much anime or reading too much manga, because what was on the tree was not something she truly expected to see. However, the gust of wind that rushed by her once more as it moved its giant wings told her otherwise.

It was a dragon, no doubt about it. A giant dragon that took up almost half of the giant tree. It's scales a polished white that almost reflected the sun off of them giving the dragon an almost angelic glow in the sunlight. It's head was long and narrow, and Jenisa could see that it was a snaggle tooth, as it had a large canine that rested over its upper lip. Its long neck leaned down so it could be face to face with her, its large body not moving from the side of the tree it was apparently stuck to. It tilted its head to the side as it looked into her large brown eyes. Jenisa looked over towards the dragon's wings, where she found that the wings were a duller white with no scales, just leathery white-looking skin. Suddenly the dragon brought her attention back to it by breathing into her face. As Jenisa stared back into the dragon's face, she noticed its pale and straight gray horns- well, horn, as the second horn was broken and missing. All that was left of it was a stump. The dragon breathed harshly into her face once more then, its breath hot. Then it lifted its upper lip into a snarl in her face. That was when her legs gave out from under her and her world went black.

She didn't think she'd wake up, but, she did. Looking up at the open Canada sky, she rolled over on the forest floor, leaves and twigs in her hair and all over her back. Then looking up, she was face to face with the dragon once more.

"So it wasn't a dream?" She deadpanned as she stood up. The dragon tilted its head at her and she took notice that it was still stuck to the tree. The dragon was also still snarling- _No. it's... smiling at me?_ It's lips were curled up, but it wasn't threatening, and it wasn't showing its gums, just it's teeth like a demented smile. "Are… are you trying to be nice?" She felt silly asking, but to her surprise, the dragon nodded happily. Jenisa opened her mouth to respond, but quickly shut it, and opened it again, looking a lot like a fish out of water. "This… is new," she finally managed to spit out. The dragon then suddenly pushed its head into her chest causing her to take a step back. "What?" she asked, sounding meaner than she really needed to be.

The dragon lifted its head and started to thrash around once more. Moving its back up and down as hard as it could, the dragon didn't move. It couldn't move!

"Do you need my help? Is that it?" Jenisa inquired as she took a brazen step forward. The dragon opened its mouth and let out that same low guttural noise that she had heard earlier. Moving around the dragon slightly, she looked to see if maybe it was impaled by a tree branch or something similar, but, to her surprise, it looked like thousands upon thousands of quills were sticking out of its back and impaling the tree, keeping yeh Dragon stuck in place. Jenisa narrowed her eyes. _Maybe I could..._

Grabbing the first low hanging branch she could find, she grunted and pulled herself up so she could squeeze in between the dragon and the tree. Slowly and carefully, Jenisa climbed higher and higher up the trees. Jenisa had to climb up higher than her comfort level, so she was then at the dragon's shoulder. Instantly the dragon stopped it's struggle and held still once he felt her behind him. Being mindful of the dragon's many quills, Jenisa let out a sharp breath and started to push against the dragon's giant shoulder. She could feel her legs shake violently as she struggled to stay balanced on the branch she was on. Her knees wanted to buckle, but Jenisa stayed strong as she continued to push. Finally she felt the dragon slip just a little bit away from the tree. The quills moved about half an inch out!

Smiling pridefully to herself she, watched as the dragon's quills, now with enough movement to do so, went down flat against the dragon's shiny white back, almost blending in instantly, and the dragon was then free. It crashed down to the ground below it, causing Jenisa to suddenly lose her balance. Crying out, she flailed her arms wildly to try and gain her balance back. It didn't work, so she fell from the branch. Screaming out in fear as the forest floor got closer and closer to her, she could see her life flashing before her. Squeezing her eyes tight, she waited for the impact, but it never came. Instead she suddenly stopped in mid-air, the back of her jacket snagged by something. Looking up, Jenisa figured a low branch had saved her life by catching her jacket, but to her complete surprise the dragon now had her jacket in it's large mouth. The dragon wasn't even flying; it had just caught her out of the air like a fly. Slowly and gently the dragon brought Jenisa to the ground. On her knees then, Jenisa never felt more happy on the dirty forest floor in her life.

"T-Thank you." Was all she could muster to say to the dragon. The dragon's blue eyes looked into her brown ones for a few moments, as they stared at one another Jenisa felt like the dragon truly understood just what she was saying and was saying 'thank you'' back to her. Bringing her hand up to the dragon's snout, she gently rested her hand between the dragon's nostrils. The scales just felt like scales, not warm nor cold. However, when the dragon suddenly snorted at her the breath was hot, causing her to retract her hand for just a moment before gently caressing the white dragon's nose. Suddenly the dragon rubbed against her hand and letting a low whine.

"What's the matter?" She softly questioned, Jenisa could hear her own concern in her voice. The dragon moved it's head away from her and seemed to be pointing to it's back with it's snout. Slowly walking around the large beast she could see it. On the middle of it's back that she couldn't see before was a large burn mark, making it's white scales a charcoal black and showing an open burn wound that was a sickly pink. Unable to reach that high she could only inspect the wound from where she was. "Jesus...What in the hell did that?" was all that came out of her mouth. Suddenly the dragon picked her up by her jacket once more and placed her on its back. Jenisa yelped once she was placed on top of the beast. Slowly she inspected the burnt scales and skin. She made the mistake of reaching out and touching the dragon's wound; hearing the dragon snap its teeth next to her ear she backed away quickly. She frowned gently and looked back at her friend.

"Well what do you want me to do about it? I don't have any medical training for giant flying reptiles you know," she quipped back at her friend as she put a hand on her chest. Instantly the dragon snorted at her like it was the dumbest question in the world. Finally it merely shook its head and she took that as time to get off of the giant beast. Looking at the height between her and the ground she froze for a second. Feeling her back suddenly being nudged she lost balance and was forced to jump down. Grunting out she turned to the dragon finally and just narrowed her eyes. "Ok, it's clear that you're injured, but there is literally nothing I can do about it."

The dragon only snorted at her once more, clearly a tad frustrated that she can't understand whatever it needed her help with. Sucking in a deep breath of frustration, Jenisa only took a step forward towards the dragon and gently patted its neck. "I want to help you, but I have no idea what you need." She softly explained to the dragon. The dragon only whined back in response before finally pulling away from her. Jenisa watched as the dragon painfully walked a few steps before returning back to her, something small dangling out of it's mouth. It suddenly dropped the small object, and Jenisa let out a gag as she realized she was looking at a dead squirrel.

"Jesus Christ! Why would you show me that?!" she cried as she looked away from the animal. The dragon only looked at her and picked the squirrel up once more. Morbid curiosity kept Jenisa looking as the beast suddenly threw the dead animal up in the air, and it one sickening bite that ended with a loud _crunch_ , ate the dead animal. The dragon then looked at her for a few long seconds. Jenisa, for a terrifying moment, wondered if the dragon wanted to eat _her_ , but by watching at the dragon more and realizing the dragon didn't have a hungry man-eating gaze to it, she got to thinking more and more. Finally, it hit her as she snapped her fingers, "You can't live on squirrels or birds! They're too small for you! You need me to bring you food so you can heal faster. Is that it?" She asked excitedly that she might have finally figured it out. Her guess was confirmed when the dragon nodded at her. Jenisa happily jumped and clapped. "OK, I can do that! I hope you don't mind stuff like hamburger though." Jenisa breathed out as she ran her hand through her hair. The dragon blinked at her before Jenisa let out a low breath. She then looked at the dragon, and gently patted the dragon's face.

"So, just out of curiosity…" She pause and started to tilt her body downwards to take a peek at the dragon's genitalia, she felt her cheeks turn red once he saw the 'red rocket' so to speak, and came back up. She only just patted the dragon's face once more before sighing out. Looking up at the sky she saw the orange hue of the sky and gasped out. "Shit! My mom is going to kill me!" she screamed out as she realized it was late now. "I have to go! I'll be back tomorrow! Goodbye!" She yelled out as she turned and ran back home as fast as she could.

* * *

Jenisa made it back home in record time. Slamming the door behind herself, she leaned against the door, allowing everything that had just happened to slowly absorb in her mind. Her favorite skirt was ripped down the side of her leg; her white stockings ripped and dirty, covered in mud and a bit of blood; she had leaves and twigs in her wild birds nest of hair; and overall she looked like a breathing out, she shakily locked the door behind her. Once the lock clicked she walked walked into the kitchen and grabbed a soda from the fridge.

Before Jenisa could even shut the door, Seth yanked another one out and greedily chugged it. The girl hadn't even heard him come in behind her, but it was easy to see why: Seth was barefoot, not exactly prepared to go out. Perhaps he hadn't even left the house at all that day; his hair was a mess, and he was wearing pajama bottoms where any reasonable person would have put on real pants hours ago. He didn't seem very interested in talking, though, so as soon as the can was empty he turned back for his room without a word.

"I'm fine, thanks for your concern." She quipped at him as she shut the fridge door. Taking in a deep breath she pulled the top of the soda and started to chug it as well. However; she wasn't done in the kitchen just yet. She climbed on the counter to open the top cabinet and pulled out her hidden stash of marshmallows from the very top of the cabinet.

"Hmm?" Seth turned around lazily then, almost looking drunk, but it was clear the real culprit behind his sluggishness was sleepiness: he could barely keep his eyes open. On the remark Seth looked Jenisa up and down, rubbed his eyes, and asked with as much interest as he could gather (which was still less than was appropriate), "Damn, Jen, what happened? You get jumped?"

Jensia had already run through her excuse in her mind on the way home and so, without skipping a beat, she simply shrugged and just sighed, "I was walking home through the woods when a bear showed up. I ran and tripped a few times, but I managed to get away."

"Yeesh, why couldn't we live near otters or cats instead? It had to be fuckin' bears, didn't it?" Seth was done with his drink then, so he lazily tossed it into a bin with perfect accuracy. "Or you'd at least think they'd learn to stay away from people. Hell, yest-" Seth almost told the story of the bear he had encountered, but he only then realized he couldn't. Jenisa would ask just how Seth got out of that, and he didn't think telling her was a good idea. "Eh, fuck it. I swear, someone's gotta do something about the, uh, _crazy_ wildlife around here."

"Agreed." Jensia breathed out weakly. That was when her mother came in through the front door,

"Jesus! What happened to you!?" Joan demanded as she cupped Jensia's face in her hands.

Jensia got out of her mother's grip and just mumbled a quick, "Nothing. I'm hopping in the shower now."

"Jenisa, did you get into a fight?" Her mother concernedly asked once she noticed her daughter's ripped skirt.

"No, I almost ran into a bear in the woods, I'm fine mom," Jenisa stubbornly fought back, normally she wasn't one to lie to her mother, but her mom couldn't learn the truth.

"Did someone get into a fight?" That wasn't Seth, but Seth scoffed as his father barged into the kitchen from the next room. "Jenisa, what happened to you?"

 _Great,_ the boy thought about Dustin's arrival, _just what I wanted when I woke up at-_ He glanced at the clock. - _7:33PM: a family reunion._

"I just told Mom and Seth there was a bear in the forest. I ran and tripped a few times. That's why I look like this." Jenisa scoffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. _As far as you guys know_ she thought gleefully to herself.

At that Seth furrowed his brow. _A few times?_ Seth thought to himself. _While escaping a bear? And succeeding?_

"Well why don't you go change, honey? I'll go get the sewing machine." That was Dustin volunteering, and he scampered out of the kitchen as soon as he said that.

 _Yeah, Dad,_ Seth grumbled internally, _Nothing says 'masculine' like eagerly running for the sewing kit._

"Alright… thanks…" Jenisa mumbled before walking away and popping a marshmallow in her mouth.

Her mother suddenly turned and ran off full speed towards the bathroom letting out a sickly gag as she did so, making Jenisa cringe as her mother did so. The bathroom door slammed shut and Jenisa could hear her mother gagging and retching. "Ew…" Was all Jenisa could say before turning to Seth. "She must not be feeling well." Was all Jenisa could say.

"After dinner last night? I didn't feel so good either." Jenisa's story had piqued the smallest possible portion of Seth's interest. "So how did you escape a damn bear if you tripped and fell more than _once,_ anyway? What, 'd he only have two legs?"

Jenisa pursed her lips, "One: you ate Oreos for dinner last night. Two: I zigzagged ran. That's what you do for bears." She then felt her mind mentally scream at her, _That's for alligators, idiot!_ But it was too late to take it back now. "That's why I kept tripping,"

"One: why do you think I felt like shit? Two: bears run about a whole fucking lot of miles per hour. If you tripped that much you'd be a meal." Seth crossed his arms then. _It couldn't have been a certain very different animal... could it?_ Seth thought he'd try probing softly without revealing anything. "Are you hiding something? Maybe... because you think no one will believe you?"

Jenisa narrowed her eyes at Seth, unsure of what to say, should she tell the truth? Why should she trust _Seth_ of all people with this secret? The man who clearly couldn't keep his own father's secret a secret for long. "I... don't know what you're talking about." She finally mustered out.

That wouldn't cut it for Seth. He was in lie detector mode now, and he caught that hesitation in Jenisa's voice. Unfortunately for her, the look on Seth's face showed that he knew. "If I took a shit in a pot and cooked it on the stove, it still wouldn't taste as bad as the bullshit you just tried to feed me." Seth was real interested now. The boy took a chair from the table, sat in it, and leaned back in it. "I can only think of two things you'd hide given your story and state. Either you were raped - and you really, _really_ need to be honest if you were-" for once, actual concern showed in the seventeen-year-old's voice. "-or the creature that attacked you was... something else." In his head Seth thought, _Damnit. If that dragon did this... I don't know what I'm gonna do. It's not like I can chase him away, but that shit can't happen. He could'a killed someone!_

Jenisa took in a sharp breath at the word 'rape' it just didn't make her comfortable, the word alone. Still she just scoffed, "I wasn't... Urg… raped." She shuddered, but continued, "You know something as well then. You know that there's something in those woods, by the library?" She questioned as she crossed her arms.

 _That's it. It has to be him._ The boy pursed his lips. Should he show his hand? _Do I have a choice now?_ "The, uh... reptile. So you saw it, too." _That means it had to be him who tried to kill Jenisa. Soon as I can I've gotta see him again and put a stop to that... if he'll even listen to me._ "Never saw it as far away as the library, though."

"Yes, the reptile, it didn't attack me, in fact, it needed my help. I got like this from being scared and running. However, the poor thing was stuck on a tree and needed my help," she explained quickly as she looked at her skirt. "It knocked down several trees, and my skirt got caught on a branch," she absentmindedly added.

"Stuck in a tree?" Seth misheard, perhaps because being stuck in a tree made slightly more sense than being stuck _on_ a tree. _Still, I can't see him having any trouble with trees. Not sure he can fly right now, but I can't see tree climbing being an issue._ _But, hey, at least I don't have to try and rough up a dragon. That wouldn't go well._ "The dragon," Seth finally spoke openly. But he looked over his shoulder then, wishing he had done that first. Still, it was clear. "Can't imagine him getting stuck in a tree. But I guess I should warn him to stay away from human places... especially if he's been caught twice already." Seth then added, "I think he understands human speech. Or the ultimate message behind it, at least."

"Right… I think he does as well, I mean, he was rather... _happy_ to be free." Jenisa snorted slightly as she laughed at the memory. "He pretty much showed me that in order to heal he just needs some food and time. I saw the thing eat a squirrel in one bite!"

The bathroom door finally opened and Joan came wobbling out looking rather pale in the face. "I think I need to lay down." Joan groaned as she held onto her stomach.

Jenisa just let her mother go, she waited until the door to her mom and step dad's bedroom shut before turning back to Seth, "Look, I could literally talk about this all night long, but I need to hop into the tub. I hate feeling this filthy." Jenisa grimaced.

"What, are you shitting me?" the boy pressed, rising up from his chair. "We discovered a motherfucking _dragon,_ and the first thing you wanna do is take a damn shower?"

"Well, what do _you_ want to do about it then? Huh? Call the cops? CSIS? Get the thing discovered? Don't you think Mom and Dustin _might_ get a little suspicious if I tell them I ran away from a bear and then _immediately_ leave the house for no reason what so ever?" Jenisa argued back against him.

"Hell, no! We are _not_ running our mouths on this, so let's shut that shit down right this moment." Seth supposed she had a point, though, in that there wasn't anything time sensitive to discuss. "...fine. But we are _not_ fucking done here."

"Fine by me. Now, I'll be in the shower if you need me for anything else," She simply put it as she grabbed her bag of marshmallows and walked off towards her room to get some night clothes.

 _How can something all black and so quiet be so bad at hiding from people?_ Seth glanced out the window towards the woods. _Well, no one's gonna be suspicious if_ I _go back outside for no reason. I gotta give that overgrown newt a talking to._


End file.
